Where To Find Affiliate Programs to Join

Navigation

MAIN
Home
Articles
Report Your Scams
Dictionary

My Affiliate Place Blog

Sitemap
Contact
Privacy Policy

TECH SECTION

COMPUTERS &
ELECTRONICS
Dell Weekly Deals
Dell Server-Electronic Deals
Dell Deals-Consumer

TECH INFORMATION
Buying A Laptop
Buying A Desktop
Protect Your Data
Tech Corner

LEARN AFFILIATE
MARKETING

Affiliate Marketing Info
Landing Page Basics
Net Etiquette

AFFILIATE PROGRAMS & PROMOTE
Find Affiliate Programs
Promote Your Business

ADSENSE
Adsense TidBits
Adsense Basics

ADWORDS
Adwords Basics

SEO
SEO Basics
Meta Tag Tips
Search Methods

WEBSITE BASICS
Website Types
Build|Design Websites
Domain|Subdomain Facts

WEBSITE PROTECTION
htaccess
Robots.txt

Where To Find Affiliate Programs To Join

Where do you find affiliate programs to join that may fit your niche? If you are new to the Internet that will be one of the first questions you will ask if you want to monetize your content site.

Yes, Adsense is one avenue of income. But if you are smart, you will have more than one avenue in which you can make money, which leads me to affiliate marketing.

You can join an affiliate program either through an affiliate brokerage company or through a program offered directly by a company, which I refer to as standalone affiliate program. Each carry their own risks if you do not do your due diligence on the company.

Let me be clear, in no case should you have to pay to belong to an affiliate program. If there is a hint that you will have to shell out money, click away.

Affiliate Brokerage Company

An affiliate brokerage company, is a company in which houses many companies that are looking for affiliates for there programs. In a few cases, there are merchants that will except your website instantly. However, in most cases affiliate managers of the program will take the time to look at your website before approving or denying your acceptance into the program.

Not all merchants will accept you in their program, especially if your site is new. However, as your traffic increases, your acceptance into different affiliate programs will begin to increase. Bottom line, be patient.

Here is a sampling of some of the affiliate brokerage companies where you can look for affiliate programs. Remember, you will have to join the affiliate brokerage firm before you can begin your search for affiliate programs.

Commission Junction -- Good company to do business with.
Clixgalore
Shareasale -- Before you can add products through Shareasale, they will verify your info. May take a day or two.
LinkShare -- LinkShare offers quality companies to fit your business and website. Take a look through the different companies. Some companies give you immediate approval, other need to look at your site before deciding.
OneNetworkDirect- Offers electronic products and digital software titles.
Google Affiliate Network - New-started by Google-offers a variety of companies and it is in it's growing stages. I like one aspect of the Google Affiliate Network, it gives an idea of the demographics of the people you are reaching with the software. Important if you are already reaching those people.

Stand-Alone Affiliate Programs

Stand alone affiliate programs are only as good and ethical as the business that is offering the affiliate program. Sounds like a rather cautious statement, right? Well, this is what I would suggest.

Always do your due diligence on the company before joining. Yes, you're excited that it's within your niche. But that excitement can turn to frustration if the commission you make seems to disappear, or the rules of the programs seems to change by the day..
Compare and contrast a stand-alone with a possible offering through an affiliate brokerage program. I found in one instance, the commission and revenue turn-around for one of my programs I was going to partake in, was better through the brokerage firm then through the stand-alone program.
Getting paid. With a stand-alone, you're relying solely on their business ethics. Thus, when payday comes, and you don't get paid, it's time to leave.

As you can imagine, finding a stand-alone programs is usually through your own Internet searches, or the company approaches you through an email.

How To Join An Affiliate Program

If you decide to go through an Affiliate Brokerage Firm, you will have to complete the online form. Once the form has been completed and you have been accepted, it is time to look for an affiliate program.

1. You will go into their links section, browse the different categories, and companies. If you find a company that you would like to be affiliate with, you just need to click a box that may say "Join Program".

2. If the company accepts you immediately, you will have to read and accept their affiliate terms. You'll then be able to but their links on your site. The rules of the affiliate program usually tells you what keywords you cannot use in your "URL", as well as, what keywords you can use. Usually you will find them on their main page within affiliate brokerage firm's website. It might be wise to look at those keywords before developing a web page, if that is one of the methods in which you are going to begin advertising that specific product of service.

In most cases, companies will want to review your site before accepting you into their program. The wait can be anywhere from a day, to a week.

If you are a new site, don't get discouraged if some of the affiliate programs you apply for reject you, -that will change as your website grows. In fact, as your website matures and grows, you may find some companies and or affiliate managers coming to you to ask if you will market their products.

What To Consider When Joining an Affiliate Program

Whether the affiliate program is associated with an affiliate brokerage firm or it is a standalone affiliate program, always do your due diligence on the company. Here are some elements to consider when joining an affiliate program.

Method of payment. - Check, PayPal, Direct Deposit (If you can do direct deposit, or use PayPal that is the best way to go. Checks, sometimes get lost in the mail.
Commission Structure - At what dollar amount do you have to reach before payout.
What is the hold time for income earned
Do your research- check out their reputation. If people are not being paid-it will be quickly revealed.
How long have they been in business. If it has been less than 6 months-do your due diligence.
Customer Service - do they take care of their customers, or ignore them after they buy the product.
Does the affiliate program match your website theme - You will not see many clicks if you do not follow this rule.
What is the affiliate program demographics, compared to your demographics. If they don't match you will not see many sales. Example: Your website is predominantly female but you put a product/affiliate program that is directed to the male. Will you get many sales? Probably not.
Location-Though this example is extreme it should get the message across. If you are from the US and you decide to sell a product that is based in China, do you think anyone would want to pay the tariffs on the goods. If I was a customer, I surely wouldn't.

What Are Cookies?

What are cookies? A cookie-specifically a "HTTP cookie" is a small piece of data that allows the service to identify individual users requesting web pages from a server.

The cookie is used in the following ways:

Identify user adding or removing items from shopping cart
Keeping track of user preferences
Keeping track of users behavior
Keeping track of individual sales by an affiliate

This is how a cookie works. When an individual clicks on a link, it is the cookie that allows the server to associate the information between the server and the user. And this is how most affiliate programs keep track of who is hitting your site.

If you look within your affiliate program, you will notice how long a cookie will last. The length of the cookie can be as little as 2 days to as long as 45+ days.

Organizing Your Affiliate Links

Once you get into affiliate marketing, you will find that soon you may be getting a lot of affiliate links. And as they accumulate, you may begin to ask yourself, "How do you keep track of them?"

The best way to keep track of your affiliate links is through an Excel program or some other spreadsheet program. You just need to create three columns: Label them as such:

Product Name
Url
Description

Different Affiliate Payment Methods

Let's first talk about thresholds. Thresholds is the amount of commission you have to make from the different programs before you will receive your money from the affiliate brokerage firm.

It is the affiliate network that sets the dollar threshold you need to reach before they will release your funds. The threshold can vary from as little as $10 to as much as $200.

Different Affiliate Payment Methods by Merchants

There are different payment methods that different advertisers can utilize and which publishers can partake in if they feel it fits their website and their marketing ability.

PPC-pay-per-call-you're paid for the call. If a customer uses the number on your site to call, you will be credited with that call if 1) they buy; 2) they stay on the line for a certain period of time.
CPL - cost per lead-if they fill out a form or subscription
CPS - cost per sale-if you send a person to the advertiser website and that person buys-you will receive a portion of the sale that you agreed upon when you signed up for the program
Cost per click - Google Ads is an example of this program. If someone comes to your site and they click on an Adsense Ad, you will receive money for that click.
CPM - Cost per impression- for every 1000 views you will receive a sum of money that was agreed upon by the Advertiser and Google or some other third-party company.
PPC - Pay per call - this is a relatively new advertising vehicle. You put a phone number on your site and if the visitor call the number, you will get credit for that call or purchase. (This is determined by the advertiser).

In the last couple of years, Internet rules for affiliate marketing has changed. It is wise to acquaint yourself with these affiliate marketing rules. Why? These rules have been instituted by the US Federal Government, and affects both the affiliate marketer and the owner of the affiliate program. And, there is one single rule that the government states-"Ignorance of the law does not exempt you from the penalties."

More Reading....

Affiliate Program Scams and Other Issues
Different Payment Methods of Affiliate Programs
The Rules of Affiliate Marketing